Some Biblical New Year’s Resolutions

I resolve to strive to “never let evil talk pass my lips; to say only the good things men need to hear, things that will really help them.” (Ephesians 4:29)

I will try to be a good tree that produces good fruit. “A good man produces goodness from the good in his heart; an evil man produces evil out of his store of evil. Each man speaks from his heart’s abundance” (Luke 6:43-45).

I resolve to be of one “mind, sympathetic, and loving toward others – compassionate, humble, to not return evil for evil, or insult for insult, but a blessing instead.” (cf. I Peter 3: 8-9)

I will seek to use the treasures and talents with which God has blessed me to give “food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, cloth the naked, care for the sick, and visit those in need.” (Matthew 25:35-36)

I will strive to worthily receive the Body of Christ (John 6), to live as a new creation of Christ by virtue of my Baptism “born anew … through the living and abiding word of God (I Peter 1:23).

“Come to [the Lord] a living stone, rejected by humans but chosen and precious in the sight of God and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be built into a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” [I Peter 2: 4-5]